Cheney’s War on Rand Paul

Bush’s #2 has waded into the Republican Senate primary in Kentucky, guns ablaze. A week after neocons declared open season on Rand Paul, Cheney has endorsed his rival, Secretary of State Trey Grayson. National Review piles on, with former Cheney flack Cesar Conda taking to the Corner to snipe, “Should Mr. Paul be elected to fill Sen. Bunning’s seat, ‘Senator Rand Paul’s’ views on national security, the global War on Terror, and foreign-policy matters would be more in line with Majority Leader Harry Reid’s than they would with Republican Leader Mitch McConnell’s.”

Interesting, isn’t it, that Conda’s post is all about Rand Paul and says little about Trey Grayson. The neoconservative establishment is terrified of the prospect of a Senator Paul. Given that Rand holds a double-digit lead over Grayson thanks to the support of the tea parties and grassroots anti-statists, I suspect that the intervention of Bush administration retreads on the Secretary of State’s behalf will not have the effect Cheney desires.

It took Cheney’s endorsement of Grayson for you to conclude that Cheney was damaged goods because Grayson was “a huge Clinton supporter”? It took me less than two years into Cheney’s Vice Presidency for me to conclude that Cheney had more than one screw loose. And, unfortunately, he had the trusting ear of George W. That was why I only voted for them once.

NR: “Should Mr. Paul be elected to fill Sen. Bunning’s seat, ‘Senator Rand Paul’s’ views on national security, the global War on Terror, and foreign-policy matters would be more in line with Majority Leader Harry Reid’s than they would with Republican Leader Mitch McConnell’s.”

Should Mr. Grayson be elected to fill Sen. Bunning’s seat, Senator Grayson’s views on foreign policy social engineering and war profiteering, domestic Big Government largesse, crony capitalism, State capitalism and government sponsored wealth transfers to the political class and government connected corporatists would be more in line with Majority Leader Harry Reid and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell than they would with traditional American conservatives in the vein of the Founders.

When are these damn Big Government pseudo-conservatives just going to join the Democratic Party and get it over with so AUTHENTIC conservatives can start building a movement against centralizers and statist authoritarians based upon REAL conservative principles?

As one of those most responsible for the passage of the health care bill because his gross incompetence while in office led to the Dem takeover of the Congress, Mr. Cheney has a lot a gall to be seen in public at all these days. His sycophantic defenders at NRO are certainly on shaky ground when talking about constitutionalism in any case.

All I can say (echoing Todd above) is that a friend of Cheney’s is an enemy of constitutional government and a hindrance to any hope of an authentic conservative renaissance (begging the question if there was actually ever a naissance to begin with, of course).

Cheney is big mouthed arrogant loser. His endorsement is a millstone around someone’s neck. What next, Bush coming up from Texas to put his arm around Grayson and tell him what “a heckava job” he’s doing”?

Rand Paul should actually point to Cheney’s endorsement of Grayson and ask the voters if they want continued Wars to Nowhere that aren’t paid for and busted budgets out the wazoo because “deficits don’t matter”.

[..]Cheney is indeed damaged goods. He was terribly flawed to begin with.[..]

What seldom receives much mention is that Cheney was a complete failure as CEO of Halliburton. Cheney negotiated the $7.7 billion deal to acquire Dresser Industries, reportedly having done so during a weekend of quail-hunting. In 2001, Halliburton was forced to settle the asbestos lawsuits that it acquired as a result of purchasing Dresser, causing the company’s stock price to fall by eighty percent in just over a year. Had Cheney not inveigled Bush to select him as his VP, Cheney would not have been able to walk away from Halliburton with a very rich severance package before the results of the disastrous Dresser acquisition became apparent. He was, in effect, the poster boy of the 2000′s, a corporate titan who got rich while causing great harm to his company.

Why is Cheney even still alive? Doesn’t he have a serious heart condition? Why doesn’t he just drop dead already, like that other SOB Ted Kennedy. Maybe when Rand Paul wins the Senate seat, Cheney will drop dead. Something to look forward to…

Exactly. Cheney is the ultimate example of “crony capitalism”. He got the CEO job at Haliburton without ever having read a balance sheet in his entire life. He was wired into the Military Industrial Complex that he’s pumped hard since he got that position.

And George W. Bush made millions losing other peoples’ money. And as President, other peoples’ lives and taxpayer money. Feckless nitwit extraordinaire.

What a couple of narrow minded, mediocre slobs. That said, take note of their active supplicant apologists, Victor Davis Hanson, Cliff May, Michael Ledeen, the atrocious James Carafano. That cabal of mediocrities, (plus the NRO crowd) are the toxic residue of the unfortunate Bush presidency.

Wow! One of the most destructive crony capitalists of modern times, with the blood of countless non-American civilians and numerous US soldiers on his hands, and you’ve just turned away from him because he picked the wrong side in an internal political dispute!

I know recent history demonstrates beyond dispute how corrupted Americans’ sense of moral proportion has become, but that takes the cake!

“Cheney is indeed damaged goods. He was terribly flawed to begin with. How different the world might be had he not been selected as VP or if the heart problem had taken him.”

Three facts to bear in mind –

1) Cheney selected – himself – as VP candidate. He was in charge of the search, and just couldn’t find anyone else who met all of his own requirements for the job of telling Bush what to do.

2) The only problem with Cheney’s heart is that he keeps it in a secure location deep beneath the Earth where the cleansing touch of sunlight can’t reach it, and the unearthly rhythm of its slow, remorseless pounding won’t drive babies mad in the womb.

3) Right up until the moment he launched a broadside at Rand Paul, I’ve never heard a bad word said about Cheney by the vast majority of posters here. He’s still popular with the 27% who think he and Bush did a great job in office, and the Conservative Media love the bones of him.

In short, you’re right, Cheney was always bad – but y’all mostly still voted for him.

I voted for him and Bush II once. After all, I remember Bush II campaigned against “nation building.” On the other hand, I voted for Bush I twice and Reagan twice. Once I heard the “Axis of Evil” speech, I knew the U.S was headed down the wrong road, and subsequent events confirmed my apprehensions. I was strongly opposed to the Iraq War long before it started. Actually, what started my unease was the No Child Left Behind Act, which preceded 9/11, but, had 9/11 not happened, I probably would have voted for Bush-Cheney a second time. After all, I held my nose and voted for Dole in 1996.

I am a conservative. I could not stomach either big govt. Bush nor Cheney. Cheney has been publically exposed as knowingly misleading the public to drag us into the disastrous Iraq war. He constantly evokes 9/11 to terrorize the public for his ends. His endorsement is poison. I hope he travels to KY for photo ops with Grayson. That will be worth 20% points to Rand Paul.